IRVING, Texas -- In the Top 25 for the first time since 1985, the SMU men's basketball program is garnering a lot of attention, even from the Dallas Cowboys' coaching staff.

Coach Jason Garrett and many of his assistants watched Larry Brown put his team through a practice on Tuesday.

"He's working the whole time, coaching every minute, coaching all the players, all parts of the game," Garrett told WFAA-TV.

In their second season under the 73-year-old Hall of Fame coach, the No. 23 Mustangs moved into the AP Top 25 this week for the first time since the next-to-last poll of 1984-85, a season when they reached as high as No. 2.

Garrett likes to take trips during the offseason to watch other coaches work. Two years ago he visited with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. Last year he spent time with the New York Yankees and manager Joe Girardi in spring training, and Girardi watched a Cowboys practice one day last summer in Oxnard, Calif. Garrett also speaks often with Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle.

Brown told WFAA-TV that it's important for a coach to be adaptable, a trait he said he believes Garrett possesses.

"You don't always have all the guys that you want," Brown said, "so the most important thing is, teach 'em up and make 'em better."

"You can just tell there's such a good culture they're developing here, and it starts with [Brown] and his staff," Garrett told WFAA-TV. "It's fun for us to be here watching these guys play and develop and grow and really develop into a really good basketball team."